Be Sure to Visit:

Tentative
Marine Ecology Field Schedule

I must emphasize that the following schedule of events is tentative.Student presentations will occur on a daily basis.
Course readings will be assigned on a daily basis.
The priority of events can (will) change at a moments notice.

Arrival Day

We will meet at 8:00 PM at the Ramada Inn in Ft. Lauderdale
to meet one another, discuss course goals and expectations, and here a lecture
on the geology of the Florida Keys.

Here is a drawing of the historical drainage patterns of the Everglades
prior to urban and agricultural sprawl. Compare with the false color image
below. Do you notice any differences in drainage patterns? (From Everglades
Wildlife, Natural History Series, Office of Publications, National Park
Service, U. S. Dept. of Interior)

This is a false color image of South Florida. Note the intense land use
pressure (as designated by color change) encroaching upon the Everglades
System from the northwest, north and east. What happens to the Everglades
system will ultimately determine the ecologic fates of Florida Bay and the
Atlantic coral reefs. More detailed information about this image is available
from project manager Bob Brown of the South Florida Water Management District's
Geographic Information System.

P.m.: Coral Reef Ecology: We will concentrate over the next
several days on the ecology of coral reefs. We will first visit French Bay/Fernandez
Bay by snorkeling/SCUBA over gorgeous patch reefs and beautiful sandy areas
at Telephone Pole/Snapshot Reef. The day will be spent analyzing the coral
species present, determining a species inventory of vertebrates and invertebrates
associated with the reef, and getting a sense of the diversity of corals in
the Bahamas.

A false color infrared image of San Salvador. The deep ocean and dramatic
drop-offs are accessible from many shoreline locations. The abundant inland
lakes are different colors because of differences in turbidity and salinity.
Salinities vary from hypersaline, such as found at Storrs Lake, to fresh.
I have labeled many of the sites where we will be studying. Unmodified image
courtesy of Gottfried, P. K., C. A.
Clark, P. J. Godfrey, and G. W. Smith, 1992, 4th Symposium on the Natural
History of the Bahamas and NASA.

P.m.: North of Snapshot Reef, there is an area known as the
"drop-off." Here, water depths change rapidly to a maximum depth
of about 2000m. We will compare and contrast the reef community here with
Snapshot Reef and the high-energy barrier reef. Field Journal Entries

p.m.: The Grotto. We will spend part of the afternoon snorkeling
& SCUBA diving in the Grotto, a semi-protected lagoon on the windward
side of San Salvador. We will also examine the rocky intertidal zone and Pleistocene
coral reefs. Altar Cave?
Check out images and movies of the beautiful Grotto area

all day: We will proceed to Pigeon Creek -- a tidal Creek on
the Windward side of the island. Here, we will do a snorkeling tour of the
system from the upper reaches of the tidal creek, through the narrow channels,
out onto the ebb-tide delta, and beyond to the seaward grassbeds. Samples
will be collected from several environments within Pigeon Creek for analysis.
On the way back to the field station, we will stop at Sandy Point to snorkel
an area where the water increases in depth very close to the shore. Large
brain and elkhorn corals are present in about 30 feet of water.
Check out images and movies of the Pigeon Creek tidal estuary

We will do a "night sky" search using binoculars, our telescope,
star charts, the Voyager computer program, and yes, our eyes! The large
spiral galaxy is known as M51,
the Whirlpool galaxy.

Day 11

a.m.: Light House cave trip. We will go subterranean this a.m.
Lights are essential. We should see some very interesting creatures including
bats, shrimp, sponges, and isopods. Lighthouse visit follows so that we can
get a fine view of the island. We will then visit Storr's Lake where living
stromatolites are found. Check
out images and movies of Lighthouse Cave!

P.m.: This afternoon we will go to "The Bluff" to
examine tidal pools about two miles north of Pigeon Creek. Field Journal
Entries

night: Night Snorkel/SCUBA?

Day 12

all day: Graham Harbor Systems Analysis: We are going to characterize
the biological and physical characteristics of the microenvironments of Grahams
Harbor. Do physical differences in habitat result in differences in the biota
present? Can we discriminate between environments based upon the biota present
in both the living communities and death assemblages? Environments sampled
will be determined by the class -- they might include the intertidal habitat,
near-shore habitats, sea grass areas, sand flats, scour pits, and coral reef
areas. Our class will divide into teams, with each team being responsible
for the characterization of each habitat within Grahams Harbor. Yet, rather
than have each team do each environment separately, the class as a whole will
participate in the delineation, sampling, and analysis of each environment
in Grahams Harbor. At the completion of the project, project results will
be presented to the class. Sampling transects will be established and current
meters will be deployed. Check
out images and movies of the San Salvador seagrass beds.

Equipment
Resources

You will have access to, at a minimum, the following equipment for your research:
tape measures, sampling vials, botanical, invertebrate & vertebrate field
guides, coring devices, nets, vernier calipers, a refractometer, current meters,
a telescope, SCUBA equipment, computers for word processing, graphing, data
organization and statistical analysis, and last but not least, your minds!

Day 13

am: French Bay Snorkel/ Patch Reefs & Turtle Grass/Grotto
Beach

afternoon: Last preparations for Bahamas Natural History
Student Research Presentations

Night: Final Exam/ Bahamas Natural History Student Research
Presentations

Tropical
Marine Ecology Reader

READER TABLE OF CONTENTS: Tropical Marine Ecology

Below you will find a compilation of readings and exercises on a variety
of important subjects. Assigned readings will commence early in
the spring semester, 2004. I will make these readings available
either through Miami University's Reserve Program, on our Assignment
and Discussion page, or I will e-mail you the readings as PDF
documents. These readings will prepare you for our many class discussions
during the field portion of the course.

The Everglades & Florida
Keys

Changes in freshwater inflow from
the Everglades to Florida Bay including effects on biota and biotic
processes: A review

Sea level control on stability of
Everglades wetlands

Ecology of the American alligator
in a seasonally fluctuating environment

Ecology of the American alligator
in a seasonally fluctuating environment

Genereux, D. and E. Slater. 1999. Water exchange between
canals and surrounding aquifer and wetlands in the Southern Everglades,
USA. Journal of Hydrology 219:153-168.

Fourqurean, J. W. and M. B. Robblee. 1997. Florida Bay:
a history of recent ecological changes. Southeast Environmental Research
Program at the Florida Institute of Technology. pp 1-25.

The"Don't
Leave Home Without It List"

You are allowed to bring 40
pounds of personal gear. Does this include my camera? Yes.
My purse? Yes. Books? Yes. Dive gear? Yes. Do you really
mean to include everything in the 40 pounds? Yes!!! Okay. With that
in mind, what should be brought?

PASSPORT (Nothing else is as good
as this to ease your way through immigration.)

It is hot and informal in the Bahamas. We will do a lot of hiking, easy climbing,
lots of sweating.
Clothing dries rapidly on a normal breezy day.

I have made reservations for every participant. Typically four people will
share a room, and the cost of the room is included in your fees. Just check
in. We plan to get together ~ 6:30 pm. Please call my room and leave a message
that you have arrived.

If you are flying to Florida, the Ramada Inn can pick you up at the airport with their own (free) shuttle service. Sometimes
air transportation is cheaper through Miami, and shuttle busses
connect the airports (for a fee). The exact time for the end of the trip in Miami on June 6 is not certain due to flight scheduling and unforeseen delays.
To be safe, return reservations should be made for the next day, in this case, June 7 .